Who we are.

The Consolidated Neighborhood Patrol affiliated with Whispering Pines Mobile Home Park, Kings Manor Estates Manufactured Housing Community and Westgate Mobile Home Park was formed, January 28, 1997, for the purpose of providing neighborhood patrol for these communities, as well as other communities, as they may become a part of this organization in the future.

The purpose of the patrol is to provide a safe and secure living environment for the individual parks governed by this agreement.

We are organized to expand communication between ourselves, local businesses, and various departments of the City Of Largo.

We support neighborhood awareness, security, stability of property values, crime reduction, and promotion of a strong community culture.

Enhancing good citizenship and community spirit by taking responsibility of our own safety and that of family and neighbors.

What works for us is our residents ride, walk, or cycle through the community providing crime prevention observation activities in conjunction with the CNP and the Courtesy Patrol(security) provided by the owners of the community.

Participants in the CNP are trained in crime prevention and observational skills by certified CNP volunteers and community police and at the local college.

The Board members and Patrol Leaders are given regular classroom training in the structured police supported citizen neighborhood patrol programs, in which pairs of trained citizens patrol the community after being certified.

The programs purpose is crime reduction, the program does not expect members to patrol the streets or to be vigilantes. In fact, it aims to avoid this type of 'busybodying'. The program is totally non-confrontational and very effective in preventing crime. Neighborhood Watch members are expected to be alert and respond to what is going on in their neighborhood day and night. Our program involves many invisible members, who protect our community day and night all year round.

Neighbors participate in prevention activities while walking their dogs, in neighborhood walks or just going to the store. Involved neighbors are the most effective factors in crime prevention and we have received many commendations from the local police for our prevention and crime reduction acts.

ACTIVITIES/PROGRAMS for the COMMUNITY

JOB CORPS

Our fundraising has been for the Recreation Center, to insure a safe self-contained environment, for 6-18 year olds in our neighborhoods. Supporters have been local businesses, both large and small, who benefit from a well behaved, happy youth group. The children have done car washes and solicited left over or used supplies and donations in the community for their program. A stumbling block has been the irrational dislike of the program by some of the adults.

The recreation center was begun as a grass roots project by members of the community, spearheaded by one caring couple, who also began the Neighborhood Watch. This couple enlisted the help of local businesses and community leaders to obtain a building for use as a Center. They cajoled, browbeat, and downright begged in the community at large in order to get the attention of the City and have them realize the importance of a safe afterschool learning environment for the neighborhood children. The program includes a safe, secure place to come after school, for children of working families; homework help is provided; computers are there for learning and enjoyment; games and sports are offered for healthy growing; gardening is taught; art and crafts projects are encouraged; and a structured drug education program is taught; a home away from home.

Donations have included much time, computers, craft instructors on a voluntary basis (the wife and neighborhood watch member who started all this), food snacks, used tv's, video game machines, a government lunch program for the summer, and much more. This particular site, has become a model of success, due to the volunteers in this neighborhood. It is being copied, but it takes more than copying. It takes the people working together in a neighborhood to make it better. We are very proud of the support from this surrounding community of over 4,000 people, who have joined in to make this a safe environment for the children.

We can't understand anyone not wanting to have a safe, secure place for the children to go to afterschool. The safety of children should be of great concern for all people, it should not be belittled or used as a stomping ground or a foil for and by 'petty groups'. We feel the success of the program and the happiness of the children is important. We cannot understand certain types of people who begrudge and mock a program for children.

We know the importance of keeping politics out of such a program and have, therefore, aligned this program with the Neighborhood Watch and Community Policing and Consolidated Neighborhood Patrol to protect the children. Neighborhood watch is about:

--how to keep young people out of trouble; --how to tackle vandalism in the neighborhood; --how to improve security in the home; --how to improve safety outside the home; --how to improve personal safety for senior citizens; --creating safer and stronger communities in a civilized manner.

We sponsor a Christmas Party for the three parks at Whispering Pines, with donations from all communities around. The children did Christmas Carols in the surrounding adult parks and the adults were thrilled. They will be making bead crafts for the Park down the street to thank them for the barrel of craft items they donated along with thank you cards.

Education program with community policing and regular education programs through homework at the Recreation/Education Center. Preventive Programs with Community Police, have great rapport with Police Department, they stop by the Recreation Center almost daily to dispel the myth of the 'police as bad.

We are fortunate that our recreation resident site also has an Aquaculture or fish farming site. This training program is college accredited, and is attended by participants from all over the World. This experience teaches cultural acceptance and a skill that may prove useful for one or some of these youths as a future career path in this country or in a another. The growing of fish for food is a very important tool to teaching self-sufficiency and giving dignity to people.